"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities" - Voltaire

26 January 2007

How to defeat the time bandits

Interesting and apparently useful article on time management.

How to defeat the time banditsGetting organised has created an industry based on the relentless drive for more productivity.Fran Molloy

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Scottish sci-fi writer Charlie Stross recently claimed that he reads more while scanning his morning bookmarks than most 18th-century readers would have got through in a year. And time-management expert Hugh Kearns, a mental health lecturer who heads the Flinders University staff development unit, says technology is making us work harder, not smarter."The irony is that all this technology that we thought would lead to more leisure time has actually given us less," Mr Kearns says.

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The number one offender? Email.

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Mr Kearns' research led him to interesting findings. "We actually sabotage ourselves sometimes by procrastination and perfectionism and overcommitting. We procrastinate - putting off the difficult things in favour of the short-term distraction," he says.

In 20 years, he has found time-management problems haven't changed much.

Interruptions remain the biggest thief of time in the workplace, although the method of interruption (email rather than phone calls and an overflowing in-tray) has changed.There are only a few basic principles, he says. "You need to be absolutely rock-solid on what you need to get done today or in the next hour."

Mr Kearns suggests putting aside specific times for answering email. "Switch off the alerts so you don't attend to an email every time it goes 'bing'," he says. "Then when you do open a message, deal with it straight away."

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Productivity expert Des Paroz recommends a time-management system called Getting Things Done, which reinforces the need to set aside time to deal with emails and phone calls.Developed by Californian management consultant David Allen, the system is explained in his bestseller, Getting Things Done.

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"Much of the stress that people feel doesn't come from having too much to do," he says. "It comes from not finishing what they've started."

Mr Allen believes the key to being more productive is to free your mind to concentrate on carrying out the next task needed to complete the project.

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But choosing from myriad organising tools available can be confusing and time-consuming. If you want to organise your life online, the trick is to choose one or two options - make sure they are versatile sites with plenty of flexibility - and use them effectively, Ms Oliver says.

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Getting help on the web

Australasian Association of Professional Organisers (http://www.aapo.org.au/) Outsource your productivity woes by getting a professional organiser to wrangle your paperwork.